649 Chapter 649 - A Long Exposition (1/2)
”How did they know that you would be here, and even made the effort to come over and ambush you here?” Gu Fei asked.
”That…” Dusky Cloud was quite embarrassed, but he felt that he should just come clean. ”There are over 4,000 members in our Ten Guild Alliance, but there would be some that belonged to other guilds who had managed to infiltrate our ranks; it's something we realized after getting caught up in a few guild battles. Unfortunately, we don't have any way to identify these undercover agents, so we can only let them remain and do whatever they please. It seems that Wraithspeak must have left an insider in our guild before they departed. Everybody in our guild is aware that we intend to bring you guys here to impart us the efficient monster grinding style, and that guy must've come running over to ambush us the moment he caught wind of this. That m*th*rf*ck*r has done this quite a couple of times now.”
”If he knew this so clearly, he would have considered that you're not going to be alone, yet he had only brought a total of eight men with him; that sort of arrangement doesn't seem to be ambushing a team. It seems to me as if he thought that you'd be alone here,” Gu Fei said.
Dusky Cloud was stunned, realizing that something was off after careful consideration. The man brought seven other Thieves with him, looking as if they were prepared to leave after killing him in a sudden ambush, but Wraithspeak was once a member of his guild, and both parties knew each other inside out. There was no way that he would utilize such a strategy if he knew that Dusky Cloud would not be alone. After all, someone in the party that Dusky Cloud often traveled with had the ability to detect Stealth. Forming such a party of eight Thieves would be as good as courting death.
Dusky Cloud wrinkled his brows even as he began mulling over the matter in detail. ”If a spy leaked this information to him, there's no way he'd go with such a party formation even if he planned to covertly assassinate me, but if this information wasn't provided to him by a spy, he shouldn't know where I was… Could that guy really have just been passing by and was actually here to grind?”
”By the look of that man, I don't think it's something as coincidental as bumping into you while passing by,” Gu Fei offered.
”You're right. Who'd head out grinding with eight Thieves like that… Just what the heck is that m*th*rf*ck*r up to?”
”I'm afraid he may not be the one up to dirty tricks,” Gu Fei said.
”What do you mean, Miles bro?” Dusky Cloud hastily asked.
”You've already said it yourself! If he's informed accordingly, there's no reason he'd use the formation he just used; if he's uninformed, then he shouldn't even be here at all, yet the situation was that he did come looking for you, and the formation he went with was precisely so odd. There could only be one such explanation; someone had intentionally leaked falsified information to him,” Gu Fei deduced.
”Are you two doing tongue twisters?” Eternal Dominion was absolutely lost. The two men ignored him.
”Falsified information?” Dusky Cloud muttered. ”Could there be someone looking to set that m*th*rf*ck*r up?”
”I'm not too clear about that; perhaps it's a frame up, or he's simply being exploited,” Gu Fei hypothesized.
”Exploited? Hmm… It's really quite that fool's style to end up being used by others,” Dusky Cloud agreed.
”In any case, you should take care. We're taking our leave now!” Gu Fei patted Dusky Cloud on his back. He reckoned that this was just the internal struggle between the guilds here in Yueye City.
”Take it easy.” Dusky Cloud did not bother sending them off anymore. The more he thought of what Gu Fei had said, the more logical it sounded. The fear was that there was indeed someone behind the curtains, pulling the strings. As for why this person would trick Wraithspeak into using this method of throwing eggs at stone, Dusky Cloud simply could not make sense of it. In addition, he had even less of a clue on just who this manipulator could be. Half of the guilds in Yueye City, especially those fairly large ones, were all mired in an imbroglio with the Ten Guild Alliance.
After Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion left Dusky Cloud at the valley entrance, the two martial arts practitioners returned to the city. Dusky Cloud, meanwhile, went back deep into the valley. The others still in the valley had opted to skip their dinner today so that they could have more time practicing the routines fervently. Dusky Cloud pulled some of them off and filled them in on what had just happened to him.
”Strategist, what are your thoughts?” Dusky Cloud asked one of the Mage from his posse.
The IGN for this 'Strategist' Dusky Cloud singled out was Dynastic Strategist, and it was apparent what this person's interest was. This person was capable of coming up with all sorts of plans, both good or bad, which explained why he had gone with such an ostentatious name. Even though the chances of his plans being utilized were low, Dusky Cloud and the others would habitually let the man be the first to speak whenever they were discussing matters. The man had already given himself such a name! They had to give him a bit of face at least.
Dynastic Strategist immediately cleared his throat as he began. ”Without a doubt, there's sure to be someone manipulating things in the shadows. I believe if it isn't Unkempt Hair, then it should be Arrogant Spawn.”
Unkempt Hair and Arrogant Spawn were guild leaders of two different level 5 guilds also based in Yueye City. To be capable of establishing and maintaining large guilds despite competing against the all-encompassing Ten Guild Alliance was no easy feat, and their accomplishments here spoke volumes of the hardships the two men had to endure to get to where they were. Now that they were working hand in hand, they evidently became the leaders of the peasants against the Ten Guild Alliance.
Also, Unkempt Hair and Arrogant Spawn, much like Dusky Pig, were derogatory twists for their IGNs. The two players were actually called Overgrown Foliage and Proud Sovereign, but Dusky Cloud and his men ended up changing them to nothing more than hair and spawn respectively.
”What's the point of telling me that?” Dusky Cloud rolled his eyes. How would he not first think that their two biggest adversaries might be behind all this, especially after realizing that there could be someone moving the strings behind the scenes? This was often Dynastic Strategist's style. The first advice he would utter was always so shallow that everyone would have already thought of it ahead of him.
”Uhm… As for what those two are up to, I'll have to contemplate on this further,” Dynastic Strategist said.
”Fine. Go and do that over at one side.” Dusky Cloud waved his hand dismissively as he turned to the rest of his posse. These were the people who would really come up with ideas.
”I believe that they must be going for this right here, yeah?” One of them nudged his head to indicate Young Master's Elite and Southern Lone Blade's team. Of course, the man was not referring to the players themselves but the efficient monster grinding routine that they represented, instead.
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Outside Youye Valley, Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion were currently making their way back to the city as quickly as they could, when they were intercepted by players along the way. Gu Fei thought that they were the reinforcement the man called Wraithspeak had sent to avenge him, and just as he was happily getting ready to engage in self-defense, the leader of this pack of players actually stepped forward with a bright smile. ”Gentlemen, sorry for the intrusion; let me first introduce myself. I am the guild leader of Yueye City's Proud Skies Guild, Proud Sovereign. This person next to me is the guild leader of Diversity, Overgrown Foliage. We have something we'd like to discuss with you two. Would this be a convenient time for both?”
Gu Fei was rather disappointed when he heard that this would not be a fight. However, he was not so heartless to reject someone who had made an effort to meet him just because he was in a rush to have dinner, so he casually asked back, ”What's the matter?”
”Heh. Well, it's something like this; you two gentlemen have recently been engaged in tutoring classes for your efficient monster grinding routines, right? We are here for this reason, and we have something we wish to discuss with you two,” Proud Sovereign explained.
Gu Fei chuckled when he heard this. ”And which grinding map are you looking at?”
Proud Sovereign smiled back. ”All of them.”
Gu Fei was startled when he heard that. ”All of them?”
”Proud Sovereign nodded. ”By all of them, I mean every grinding map in the game.”
Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion exchanged looks, a little confused on what the guy meant.
”He he. Actually, we've only told you our IGNs in this game. I have another identity I go by that I have yet to tell you two. Gentlemen, here's my name card.” Proud Sovereign handed them two emblem-like items.
Gu Fei and Eternal Dominion took the items with skepticism and realized that they were calling cards made using unknown materials. The words on the cards read: 'Remarkable Flair Workshop's Yueye City branch manager, Proud Sovereign.' There was an email address printed on each calling card but nothing else.